News and Colloquium

News

The New Mexico Tech Physics Department has been ranked 39th by College Factual out
of 263 schools for Physics! Read more about it here.

Holiday Party at Sofias - Wed, Dec 5. Contact Alta to RSVP

Colloquium

Dr. Christian M. Appendini

Engineering Institute from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Yucatan

"Extreme ocean waves in the Gulf of Mexico and climate change: hurricanes and cold
surge intrusions"

Abstract:

Extreme waves in the Gulf of Mexico are a result of tropical cyclones and anticyclone
systems known as Nortes. Waves derived from tropical cyclones have devastating consequences but a low occurrence,
while Nortes are frequent during autumn/winter and generate waves that disrupts maritime activities.
While current planning of maritime operations and the design of structures is based
on historical data, global warming will likely affect such conditions during the coming
years and into the 22nd century. This work analyzes the waves derived from tropical
cyclones based on synthetic events to overcome the limitations imposed by short historical
records and the low frequency of tropical cyclones and underestimation of maximum
wind speeds in General Circulation Models. The effect of climate change implications
on the design of structures is illustrated by the 100 years return period considering
the present and the future climates. For the Norte derived waves a method to identify
events is presented, as well as a classification of events based on wave power. The
assessement of the effect of climate change over the Norte derived waves is done by evaluating the change of frequency for the different types
of Nortes. In conclusion, the study shows that the extreme wave climate in the Gulf of Mexico
due to the effect of global warming is expected to be characterized by an intensification
of the waves generated by tropical cyclones, a lower occurrence of intense events
generated by Nortes, and an increased occurrence of mild Norte events. As such, the design of maritime structures should considered an intensification
of the design waves, as a result of tropical cyclones, and the operational design
maritime structures should consider a lower occurrence of extreme events as a result
of Nortes.